“No offense intended.” Aedan’s expression didn’t suggest he cared whether I was offended. “Simply an observation. Your species is prone to minor ailments. It’s fascinating, really. The sheer number of illnesses you can contract...”
My species? Humans? What…?
“Aedan,” Caelan interrupted. “Thank you. For coming.”
“Mmm.” Aedan gave me one last assessing look. “Keep her hydrated. Rest. No strenuous activity for at least three days.” He paused. “That includes the kind of strenuous activity you were clearly engaging in last night.”
My face went hot. “How did you...”
“I’m a doctor.” He was already heading for the door. “And you both have that look.”
He left with a curt nod to me and a muttered comment to Caelan that made him flush. I caught the word “dramatic” and possibly “embarrassing” and “you’ve completely lost your mind.”
I liked Aedan.
But as I settled back against my pillows, a question nagged at me. The way Aedan said “humans get them.” The way he’d said “your species.” The way Caelan had reacted to it, almost nervous.
The phrasing was odd. He’d talked about humans the way someone might talk about a species they weren’t part of. An observation from the outside looking in.
Which was weird. Obviously humans got colds. He was a human. Caelan was a human. Everyone in this room was a human.
Right?
I filed it away for later, too tired and stuffed up to examine it closely.
***
The rest of the day unfolded in a blur of aggressive caretaking.
Caelan refused to leave my side, not for a second. When I got up to use the bathroom, he was there, arm around my waist, guiding me.
“I can walk,” I protested.
“You’re unsteady.”
“I’m fine.”
“You swayed.”
“I didn’t...”
He scooped me up without warning, carrying me the remaining five feet to the bathroom door. His arms were steel around me, his expression brooking no argument.
“This is ridiculous,” I said, but I wasn’t really fighting it. There was a thrill to being manhandled by him, even for a task as mundane as bathroom access, that made my stomach flip.
“Call for me when you’re done,” he ordered.
“Caelan...”
“Call. For. Me.”
I called for him when I was done. He carried me back to bed.
When I lay down to nap, I opened my eyes twenty minutes later to find him sitting in a chair he’d dragged to my bedside, watching me with that intense, unwavering focus I’d come to associate with him.
“You’re watching me sleep,” I observed.
“Yes.”
